We, The Waiting
by LostLittleGirl90
Summary: [Beetlejuice crossover] Forced to move while the Institute is rebuildt, the XMen find themselves having to deal with ghosts, parallel worlds and three words that are going to bring the dead back to Peaceful Pines. [R&R is appreciated]
1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary;** Due to complications and delays in the rebuilding of the Xavier Institute, the Professor has decided to move the X-Men to the quaint town of Peaceful Pines, Connecticut. Ghost, school uniforms and parallel worlds, how will they it all?

**Warnings; ** **A**lternate **V**ersion / **C**rossover / **W**ork** I**n** P**rogress

**Disclaimer; **I don't own any of the characters or places mentioned in this story. They are copyright to their respective creat­ors. (1.1)

**We, the Waiting**

**Part One**

"Though I know I should be wary, still I venture someplace scary.

Ghostly haunting I turn loose,

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

BEETLEJUICE!"

--

**Welcome to Peaceful Pines, CT.**

**Population; 1065**

Peaceful Pines... No, the name just didn't sound right and the place didn't look right. A small, nearly vacant town, hardly any inhabitants. So old fashioned, so all-American, the kind of town where everyone knew everyone else's business. _The kind of town where one person's cold was everybody's cold_. Peaceful Pines, Connecticut, was the very image of rural living and the new home of the X-Men of Bayville

--:--

"Un-buh-livable."

That was all Kitty Pryde managed to say at the sight of their new house, the one on top of the only hill in Peaceful Pines. The place looked worse than the Brotherhood Boarding house, and that was saying something. The teen mutant flipped some of her stray brown hair off her shoulder, before turning to her friends, all of whom were pushing and pulling to get their bags out of the X-Van's trunk.

It had been a long drive from Bayville, and the teens were already grumpy enough as it were. It was safe to say none of them were altogethers pleased at the idea of moving from the Institute to the middle of Who-Knows-Where, Connecticut.

Professor Xavier and the Institute teachers looked on in amusement as they pushed at each other, stumbled, and ended up with bags opening and clothes flying everywhere. Well, all except Logan that was, who was sniffing the around the area, already suspicious of the town.

"This place ain't right Chuck." Wolverine growled as he scanned the town beneath the hill.  
The one thing you could credit this dump of a house for, was that it had an amazing view of the scattered houses of the town.

"Oh, I think you will find the house quite suitable Logan... Now if only our help would show..."  
The help referred to by Charles Xavier was Jane Butterfield Brewster, the real-estate agent that had rented out the house to them. Who else, seeing as she was the only agent in the area.

By now Rogue had joined Kitty to stare at the tattered new home. Brushing her white bangs away from her eyes she couldn't help but envy the New Recruits right then, who were off to live at someplace called the Massachusetts Academy. (1.2) Kitty on the other hand was mentally coming up with every curse possible for Mystique, who was both indirectly and directly (depending on how you looked at it) responsible for them ending up here. Simultaneously the two girls turned at the sound of a car coming. Well, if you could really call it a car...

It seemed everything in this town was old and worn, the yellow car that pulled up next to the Van was no excep­tion. The bumper looked ready to fall of, one of the headlights were missing and the radio-antenna was actually a clothes hanger. Miraculously the door opened without falling off and out stepped a woman with graying brown hair, dressed in a skirt and cardigan that matched the yellow of the car perfectly. She was Jane Brewster without a doubt.

"Hello! Oh, you must be the people from the Xavier Institute. So pleased to meet you all!"  
Jane's voice was friendly, though slightly high-pitched. She held out her hand politely in greeting to Logan, the person closest to her. She receiv­ed only a glare and a rather feral growl. She looked shocked, amusing some of the younger boys, namely Kurt and Evan.

"Please excuse Logan, Mrs.Brewster." Xavier said as he rolled his wheel chair forward.

"My name is Charles Xavier. It's a pleasure to meet you."  
It was obvious by the look on Jane Brewster's face that she had not imagined Professor Xavier as a wheelchair-bound, bald man. The Professor, though it was certain that he noticed, smiled politely and gestured towards the house.

"Shall we..?"

--:--

"And this is the dinning room!"

Jane Brewster's tour of the house took longer than expected. Hours longer than expected actually. It might have had something to do with the fact that she used twenty minutes per room to tell them about how she had personally decorated every room in the house and why she chose this and this color.

The boys, the before mentioned and Scott Summers, had decided to take a tour of the house themselves. Shadowcat and Jean Grey were following the teachers, making sure always to stay in the middle of the rooms they were shown. It seemed no one had taken the time to clean the place up before they arrived; every crook and crannie of the house was covered in either dust or cobwebs, and the spiderwebs especially seemed to creep them out.

Rogue though, had not yet torn herself away from the entrance hall.

"Find somethin' intrestin' Stripes?" Logan asked from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Defanhe 'intrestin''" she drawled back as she studied the woodwork of the old staircase leading to the second floor.

"So... you like the place?"

She didn't answer at first, but stared at the spider creeping down its web between two of the stair railing. Her fingers traced the pattern of the spiderweb.

"Jean hates it..." she said quietly, and turned to look at him with a faint smile on her face. "Ah could live here." (1.3)

--:--

The boys were on the second floor, just finished checking out some of the rooms, including a study. The house proved itself to be a lot bigger than what the exterior let on, but it didn't mean it looked any fresher inside. It could easily pass for the set of some 'abandoned house' horror movie. All that was missing really, was a few corpses here and there. Maybe a ghost up in the attic.

Speaking of which...

- "You guys think this leads to an attic?" Evan asked, pointing at the crooked and narrow staircase the three boys had found while exploring the hallways.

"I guess..." Scott said with a shrug. He didn't seem very interested in exploring the house. It seemed he still felt bad about Mystique blowing up the Institute while posing as the Professor.

"Let's check it out!" Kurt suggested, having a hard time curbing his enthusiasm for the idea of something undiscovered.

Scott sighed as Kurt and Evan grinned at each other. The two younger boys raced up the stairs.

To their disappointment, the door was locked. The two sent pleading looks to Scott, whose eyebrows narrowed over his ruby glasses. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed again, two things that seemed to have become his natural reactions to just about everything. Carefully he removed his glasses, and sent a small optic beam towards the lock.

The door flew open.

--:--

Trailing after Ororo and Jane, Rogue had decided to explore the second floor (mostly because she wanted first pick at the rooms). Logan and the Professor had fallen behind, having small difficulties carrying the Professor and his wheelchair up stairs.

As they all continued down the hall of closed doors Rogue noticed one at the very bottom of the corridor that was open. She parted ways with the others who continued down the right hand side of the hall. There was something different about this door; despite being covered in dust and cobwebs like all the others, this one had a hard cardboard poster on it. A vintage 'Night of the Living Dead' movie poster. She was beginning to like whoever used to live here.

She entered the room, slowly opening the old door, a loud creak coming from the hinges. The room itself was dirtier than anything she had seen in the house. The mirror on the other side of the room was so covered in dust she couldn't even see her reflection, the bookshelves and the bed were no better.

The shelves filled an entire wall. They were filled with old music tapes and vintage vinyl records of old-school bands like the Cure and Bauhaus. Others were filled with books, like the works of Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Love Craft and Mary Shelly's 'Frankenstein'. But it was the things on top of the shelves that fascinated her the most; mutilated dolls with needles in their eyes, some made to look like monsters from horror movies. One in particular caught her attention, the only one which seemed relatively dust-free.

It was a male doll, whose face was painted like that of a rotting body with green spots and deep black circles around the eyes. She picked him up of the shelf, examining him closer. He wore a black and white stripped suit, dirty with various colored stains. And for a second, she could have sworn he grinned at her.

"Beetljuice..." The word rung through her head. She glanced around the room nervously. "Neitherworld..." It was all in her head, there was no one there to speak to her, she assured herself. Silently she muttered for whoever absorbed in her head to shut up. She glanced at the doll again.

"Oh... I see you found the room."

Rogue turned around abruptly, dropping the doll, at the sound of Jane Brewster's voice. She was standing in the doorway of the bedroom along with the Professor and Ororo Munroe.

"Yeah, uh... Just outtah curiosity, who used tah live here?"

"Well first, it was the Maitlands," she looked to the Professor and added, 'they were family'. "And then there was that horrible accident..." she looked to Rogue and said pointedly, "They died."

"Oh,... Ah'm sorry."

"Oh, don't be..." Jane said airily, waving her hand about. "Well, after that, we really didn't have as much trouble selling the place as we thought we would. This rather **interesting** family from New York bought it at once."

"Did they..." Rogue gestured around the room. "Did they have aneh kids?"

"Yes, a daughter. Strange girl really, not much older than you I suppose, went to school with my daughter Claire... To put it like this, everyone in town knew there was something weird about that girl, so fascinated with the dead and," it was Jane's turn to gesture to the room, though with a rather uneasy look on her face. She was paying particular attention to the macabre dolls on top of the shelves as she waved her hand around.

"Well, to put it simply, weird things started happening when that girl showed up, and they stopped once she disappeared."

"She...disapperead, you say?" Ororo asked softly, glancing around the room.

"Oh yes, just vanished into thin air. Her parents stayed for six months or so, but after that they just couldn't bare living here anymore. They kept the house in case she ever came back, but have rented it out since then... You know, rumor in had it town that she jumped off the bridge into the same river the Maitlands drowned in." Jane gave a nervous laugh and checked her watch.

"...Oh my, look at the time, I should be home helping Clarie fix dinner."

She turned to leave, but stopped just as she stepped over the threshold of the room. She cast a glance at Rogue over her shoulder, and as if she had read the mind of the young mutant she whispered,

"That was back in '86."

And with that she left.

--:--

"Hey guys, come check this out!"

It was Evan Daniels voice that called to them from somewhere in the house. Up until then Kitty and Jean had enjoyed the sun outside, lounging on the front lawn. They had in fact silently agreed to ignore the boy's muffled shouting until a cloud of black smoke came in the way of their sunshine.

"Like, what do you want Kurt?" Kitty asked annoyed, as she franticly waved his smoke out of range from her face. Kurt muttered his apologies in German before grabbing hold of both girls.

"You have to see this." he insisted just before he teleported them to, well, they weren't quite sure.

The girls looked around the room, which they both individually assumed was the attic, and their eyes rested upon a model village set up on a table in the middle of the room. Evan and Scott were both busy examining the table, while Kurt was exploring the rest of the attic, particularly interested by a television set standing in the corner.

"What is that?" Kitty asked slowly, taking a few steps closer to the table, her head cocked to the side as she took in the sight in front of her.

"I don't now..." Kurt said from across the room, crouched down as he examined the old TV.

"Not the TV!" Kitty muttered. "That!".  
She pointed at the model village

"What does look like?" Evan shot at her, not taking his eyes of the tiny white house he and Scott were paying particular attention to.

"I know what it is!" Kitty snapped as she leveled her head with theirs. "I just don't understand what's so, like, interesting about a model of some town."

"It's not just 'some town'" Scott said matter-of-factly as he looked up at Jean and gestured at her to come look at it as well.

"See that house there?" he asked her as she came closer. She nodded, but didn't seem to realize what the fuss was about.

"That's our house." Evan supplied, "and that," he pointed at the rest of the model town, "is a perfect replica of Peaceful Pines, Connecticut."

Kitty's eyes widened whilst Jean let out a small 'wow'.

"Whoever made this must've had serious issues..."

Before any of the boys could argue with her, a sharp southern accent cut them off as Rogue appeared through the door of the attic

- "You gahs are never gonna guess what Ah just found out."

--:---

The young X-Men sat down in the covered furniture of the attic. It was rather nice, a little more light and some brighter colors and it would have been just like the rec. room back at the Institute. There were two couches and three big chairs, all covered by by white sheets to keep them from collecting too much dust. Rogue was sitting cross legged in one of the chairs, arms folded over her chest and with eyes closed as if in deep thought.

"Well?" Kitty asked, tapping her foot against the woodwork floor. Rogue had been sitting like that for ten minutes now.

"Well, what?" Rogue shot back, looking annoyed.

"Jeez Rogue, are you going to tell us or not?"

Rogue frowned, rising from her seat. Those chairs really weren't that comfortable. And then there was something, something that broke the light from the window. Rogue blinked hard. She walked across the attic to the small window, with a view over the town, she could have sworn she saw some kind of movement there.

"Ah found out about the people who used tah live here." she said silently, her hands on the windowsill. "There's somethin' weird about this place..." she muttered to herself.

"Well, what happened to them?" Jean asked.

"The first couple, the Maitland's" Rogues eyes wandered from out the window back to her friends. "They dahd. And the next family, the Deetz's, their daughter, she just disappeared."

"Wadda ya mean, disappeared?" Evan asked, immediatly perking up at the idea of an unsolved mystery.

"That's the weird part, nobodeh knows! She disappeared, just laihk that!" Rogue snapped her fingers to further illustrate her point.

Kurt shot up from his seat then teleported to Rogue's side. With one hand raised dramatically he proclaimed;

- "I say we ineveztigate this mystery!"

To which Evan replied by pumping his fist in the air and Kitty began to giggle. Scott's eyebrows narrowed over the rim of his glasses and Jean seemed to be thinking whatever he was thinking (or reading whatever he was thinking for that matter.)

"I don't think that's such a good idea." she said, carefully pushing strands of red hair behind her right ear. "It's really not any of our business. Her family might not appreciate us doing that."  
Kurt and Evan exchanged glances, looks of mischief playing across their faces. Both Jean and Scott sighed.

"Hey, does anybody else think it's kinda weird that that Jane lady didn't, like, recognize any of us?" Kitty's unmistakable voice cut through. A new discussion fired up, and Rogue was the only one that didn't participate. She was too deep in her own thoughts to care about whether the population of Peaceful Pines knew about their powers or not. All she wanted to know was what had happened to that girl.

"Children!" Ororo was calling for them from downstairs. "Cleaning time!"

The others groaned and while shuffeling their feet over the floor, they began down the stairs.

Rogue glared at the others from her position leaning against the window. _'Maybe y'all can relax in this house, but Ah can't.'_

--:--

(1.1)Right, so since I didn't want to give up the crossover cartoon's title (though it was kinda obvious) in the Disclaimer I'll put it here.

**Disclaimer;** **X-men **characters and places belong to **Marvel**, and **Beetlejuice** characters and places belong to **Tim Burton**.

(1.2)In the comics the Massachusetts Academy was run by Emma Frost. Her trainees there, the Hellions later became rivals of the New Mutants, many of which were part of the New Recruits in **Evolution**.

(1.3)The last four lines of the paragraph were a copy right from a scene from **Tim Burton**'s movie **Beetlejuice**, part of a conversation between Lydia Deetz and her father when they had just moved into the Maitland house.

Oh and there's a **The Ring**** quote in the begining of the story, too...**

**Author's Note; !**PLEASE READ!Now, if you haven't seen either **Beetlejuice **movie or cartoon, you might have some questions. Fret not. Any questions you have I'll try to make clear. So therefore, it would be nice if you left some form of message – you can review or send a message from my profile – so I can answer them...

Happy New Year! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer;** **X-men **characters and places belong to **Marvel**, and **Beetlejuice** characters and places belong to **Tim Burton**.

**We, the Waiting**

**Part Two**

"The living usually avoid the

strange and unusual.

I myself am,

strange and unusual."

"Do you think that girl saw us?"  
It was a woman, who asked the question. A woman with brown, curly hair that reached her shoulders. A woman who of build was both tall and thin. She looked pretty much like any other woman in her mid-thirties. The person she was talking to didn't spare her a look when he answered.

"I doubt it Barb..." he said absentmindedly, fingering with a white miniature house. His name was Adam, and like the woman he was talking to, his wife Barbra, he too had brown hair, (except his was much shorter.)

"Just look at what does kids did!" he said with a groan, adjusting his glasses.

"I'm sure they didn't mean to..." said Barbra, standing beside her husband and examining the rest of the miniature town. She hesitated, before saying;

"Maybe, **just maybe**, she's just like"

"She's not. She would've screamed, had she actually seen us." Adam countered immediately. He was in no mood for this conversation.

"But you heard them! Talking about powers and mutations. How can we be sure, if we don't at least **try **connect with her, to talk to her!"

"I don't doubt that they might have powers, but that doesn't change anything. Barbra," he placed his hand on her shoulder, "there will never be another Lydia."

Barbra didn't look convinced. The girl, the one with the auburn hair and odd white streaks, she was different from her friends. She was special, even among the other mutant teenagers. That girl could see them, or sense them at least. Them? The Maitland couple, silly.

The **dead** Maitland couple.

--:--

Two days. Two whole frigging' days is what it had taken for the X-men to make the old Maitland house look _passable. _No, not clean, livable or presentable. Just good enough for no one to catch some disease from the mold. Yes, the house had mold, something which had been discovered by a thoroughly disgusted Kitty Pryde. The young X-girl wasn't so sure how long she would be able to survive that place... But at least it was passable.

The third morning the X-men were woken horrifyingly early – at six o'clock to be precise – only to receive equally terrible news. Logan wanted them all ready in ten, to take a one hour hike in a nearby forest. Cursing under their breaths, they went after a few threats about having to de-mold the house by hand.

By the time they came back from said hike, they were all exhausted and the girls were ready to jump at each others throats for the chance to shower first. This resulted in a race up the stairs, and a small crack in the old woodwork.

"Hey, that's cheating!"

Jean Grey's shout as Kitty phased through the bathroom door could be heard throughout the house, and probably throughout Peaceful Pines. And the shouting match that had fired up between the three girls, wasn't about to end.

Ororo Munroe sighed. She wasn't about to make anyone's morning any better. How did she always end up being the bearer of bad news?

By the time everyone was done arguing and were ready for breakfast, it was time to ruin their morning even further.

"These," she said, handing each of the teens a brown paper package, "are your new uniforms."

"We get new uniforms?" Kitty asked, perking up immediately. "Cool... Oh, I hope mine is pink!"  
_'If only it were so, child...' _Ororo thought to herself as she walked around the table.

"Also, as you may have noticed, the Professor has left to meet Dr. McCoy at the Massachusetts Academy, were they will both be staying for a week."

She was about to continue, but was interrupted by Kurt.

_'Oh Goddess...'_

"Vhat!" He near yelled, holding the fabric content of the package up. "Is this some sort of sick joke!"

What he was holding up was certainly no new X-Men uniform, but a white button-up shirt and a pair of black slacks. In other words, a school uniform. The other students ripped up their packages to really confirm that it was some sick joke Logan had decided to play on the blue elf, but...

"You gotta be jokin' me." Rogue muttered. "Ah ain't wearin' no school uniform!" she raged at Ororo and Logan, shaking her own shirt and below-the-knee length, plaited skirt in her fist.

"Believe me child," Ororo said softly, "had it not been for the schools' rules about uniforms, we would never dream of putting you through this." she explained, trying her best to wrap her little, white lie in sugar.

"Eh, Auntie O, when you say 'schools', you don't mean that in, plural, do you?"

Logan laughed gruffly at this, obviously enjoying the scholastic torture his students were about to receive. Ororo glared hard at him, the kind of glare where her eyes go just a little bit whiter. He stopped laughing then.

"It seems that the school system here works a bit differently. The girls, from ages 10 to 18 attend Miss Shannon's school for girls," Rogue groaned as she heard, while Kitty perked up a bit, "and the boys, from the same ages, attend Mister Illes' school for boys."

"That is **so** backwards." Jean muttered. "What are we, in the 1800th century?"

"I'm very sorry Jean, but it's the only offer they have."

"But,"

"No buts, Red. You're goin', no matter what century." Logan added, which meant that all further attempts at arguing, were futile.

---:---

"Ah can't believe they're makin' us do this." Rogue muttered as the three X-Girls were dropped off at the curb, in front of the school. "Ah ain't goin' to no all-girls school, especially not wearin' this dorky-lookin' outfit!"

"Come on Rogue, it's not that bad." Kitty said cheerfully, shifting her backpack from one shoulder to another. "I mean, we could have been wearing that Jane lady was wearing the other day."

Meanwhile, Jean was tugging at the sleeves of her shirt, trying to make her non-conformist views concerning the uniforms clear.

"This is so stereotypical." she complained, pulling her shirt out from her skirt.

"Ya pull that shirt a little higher, ya could pass for some Britney Spears wannabey." Rogue said darkly as Jean tied the shirt a little over her bellybutton. With heavy steps in her dark leather boots, the Southern girl made her way to the schools front door, and to what she felt would be the end of her.

Kitty jogged up to her friend's side.

"Aw, come on Rogue, look at the bright side!" Rogue sent her a very skeptical look, one eyebrow raised. "Not only are school uniform very in this year, but we so no longer have to help the guys with their homework." Shadowcat added with a grin.

"So that's why you're so happy about this." Jean said, catching up with them

"Duh. I am so sick of having to do Evan and Kurt's homework for them."

"You don't **have** to do it, you know."

"I know," Kitty admitted, as they waited for the bell to ring. "But I just don't wanna be mean to them."

"Not doin' their homework ain't bein' mean, Kitty." Rogue told her, while glaring at the school doors. "It's called self-preservation."

"That is **so** true!" a girl's voice cut through, followed by a group giggles. The three X-Girls turned, coming face to face with a group of thirteen year olds.

"You must be the new students!" the same girl, obviously the Queen Bee, said cheerfully. Rogue frowned slightly, the girl was eerily reminiscent of Jane Brewster, with the same large smile and blond hair. Even more eerily she sported an insanely deep tan, that could hardly be natural.

"Miss Shannon told us about you, and asked us to show you around. I'm Cassandra, Cassandra B. Skaaren." she said holding her hand out.

"Hi," Jean said politely, taking her hand. "I'm Jean Grey. This is Kitty Pryde and, eh..." Jean trailed of, glancing at her friend, not really knowing what to say. Rogue groaned and shook her head.

"Mah name's Rogue."

"Rogue..." Cassandra repeated the name a few times. "Is that European?"   
Before Rogue could protest, or insult the girl's intelligence, Kitty interrupted.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Yes, it is."  
The group of girls began to chatter animatedly amongst themselves, something about wishing their names were from Europe too.

"Ah wish Ah was **in** Europe..." Rogue said with a glum expression as the bell rang.

---:---

By the end of the day the girls had been introduced to every student in the school. **All 87 of them**. The younger girls didn't seem to care much about them. Unfortunately, neither did the girls their age. It was mostly Cassandra and her little crew that followed them around, wanting to hear everything about Bayville. Rogue had survived the first half the day, but realized she had to escape their clutches when Cassandra uttered the phrase, "Like, aren't I just the most?".

It was now every girl for herself.

She had managed to sneak away and into one of the small school's unused rooms, by the looks of it. It was a shock to find that this had once been a library, now reduced to what looked to be an extra broom closet. It was dusty and dirty, and it was even more shocking to find people back there, studying.

"Um, hi." she said slowly, a strange uncertainty finding it way to her voice.

"Hi." one of the girls said, not looking up from her book.

No one else said anything. Obviously not a very talk-active crowd, but she already liked them better than the 'Teen queens'. With careful steps she began to wander around the room, no bigger than her bedroom at the Maitland house. The shelves were all filled to the brim with books, reminding her much of the kind of library you would see in films. A pair of books stood out, newer than the rest, and she felt immediately drawn to them. _Miss Shannon's School for Girls, Yearbook; 1884-1964 _and _1965-..._

Rogue pulled the latest one out, and flipped to the pages in the back. If what Jane had told her was true, than a picture of _that girl _would be found somewhere in this yearbook. Head buried in the leather-bound book she pulled out a chair and sat down at one of the tables. She flipped through the pages, studying each group-photo closely. It hadn't crossed her 'till then that she had no idea what the Deetz girl looked like, and there was no list of names underneath each picture.

"Excuse me," Rogue said to the two girls sitting opposite to her, turning the book towards them. "Do any of ya know who of these girls is Deetz?"

One of the girls, a 10 year-old who wore glasses, glanced over the 1985 picture Rogue was showing her.

"I think it's her." she said, pointing at the one girl who stood out in the picture. The one with hair that sprouted from the top of her head like a volcano erupting. "Her name's Lydia, she went to school with our mom."

"Shut up, Frances!" the other girl hissed, then glared at Rogue. "I don't who you are, or what you're trying to do, but you better stop it. Now." Rogue arched a brow.

"Look, Ah just wanna who she is. How she disappeared." she replied casually. It wasn't that big of a deal, was it?

"Well you're not going to find any answers here," the older girl snapped, then paused, "no one talks about it."

"That's not true Kathleen." the spec-eyed Frances said, staring at her sister. "There are ghost, in the Maitland house." Rogue stared incredulously at her.

"It's true!" Frances insisted. "Well, **I've **never seen them myself. But Lydia Deetz could. She see them and talk to them and stuff. She could even call upon them!"

"Shut u-up, Frances." Kathleen, her assumed-to-be sister, warned through clenched teeth.

"Mom told us all about it, they were friends in school."

She leaned a bit over the table.

"Mom says she even saw him once."

"Saw," Rogue stared at her, "who?"

---:---

The second she got back to the house Rogue rushed up to her bedroom, clutching her backpack to her chest. This town was creeping her out! The people here were reminding her more and more of something from a Stephen King novel. She didn't even want to think about what might happen should they find out she ripped that 1985 picture out of the yearbook. Let's just say she wasn't ruling out any options that had the words tar, feathers, burn or stake in them.

"Rogue!" Ororo's muffled voice called form downstairs. "The others have a friend here. Couldn't you come downstairs?"

"Sorry miss Munrow, Ah've got a lot of homework ta do." she called back. Whoever it was Jean and Kitty had brought home, she wasn't up for meeting. She dropped her backpack on the floor, after having pulled a thick, black notebook out from it. She sat down on the now dust-free bed, removed her clammy gloves and crossed her legs as she placed the book next to her.

She wasn't sure where she would go from here. She had a picture of the girl, some information on her, but nothing else. Apart from that girl in the library, whose name turned out to be Frances Love, no one seemed willing to talk about the Deetz girl – Lydia – nor the Maitland couple. Part of her thought she should be giving the whole thing up, that there was nothing to find but a clue here and a clue there, neither of which having a connection with the other. And, she told herself, she'd eventually drive herself as mad over this as she said the people in this town where.

Groaning, she got up from the bed and began pacing around the room. She actually liked the way the room was decorated, particularly the spider-web patterned curtains. And the books the girl had, she had read most of them herself. In some odd way she felt a connection to the person who had lived here. Maybe that's why she was so determined to find out what happened to her.

Very carefully she pulled out the top drawer of the vanity.

_'Beetlejuice'_

She jumped, startled to hear _that_ voice again. The voice she had heard just the day before, right before Jane came into the room. It was only a whisper of a voice, but it sounded so very clear. She shook her head, and began pulling the content of the drawer out onto the vanity.

It was a small sketchbook that intrigued her the most. With bare fingers she flipped through it, enjoying the texture against her fingertips. She found that for each drawing she came over she became more and more fascinated. At first look they were just rough lines crossing each other in strange patterns, but the closer she looked she could see the drawings clearly. It all reminded her of some twisted version of Alice in Wonderland mixed with the Addams family.

_'Neitherworld'_

She almost dropped the book at the sound of the voice.

_'Three times...'_

_'Beetlejuice'_

_'Be wary...'_

_'Neitherworld, Beetle'_

_'Neitherworld.'_

She flipped to the last page and gasped, a strange surge running through her whole body. Almost like when she absorbed someone... She dropped the book and reeled backwards, her whole head spinning. Leaning herself against the wall her eyes wandered to the top of the bookshelf, to **that** doll. She blinked. He was grinning wickedly at her.

"Rogue!"

It was Kurt and Evan who burst through the door right then.

"Girl, you gotta hide us!" Evan pleaded. "That girl is insane!"

Rogue said nothing, only held one hand against her forehead. Her head was hurting, pounding like a bad headache. The room was spinning, she didn't know how long she'd be able to stand up straight even.

Oblivious to the fact that his sister was in pain, Kurt grabbed Evans arm and teleported them out of the room, leaving a thin layer of smoke in the room. Rogue began coughing hard, clutching her chest. Her head was swimming now, she could hardly make out the bed, everything was just a blur. She couldn't understand what was happening, she just knew there was something, **someone** in her head. She staggered towards the bed.

Jean, Kitty and their guest found this to be the opportune moment to enter her room.

"Rogue!" Jean cried, noticing at once that something was wrong with her, and rushed to her side.

"Get offa' me!" Rogue shouted, pushing Jean away. Jean gasped, noticing that Rogue wasn't wearing her gloves.

"So, this is that freak girl's room." it was Cassandras voice that rung through the room, filled with awe.

"You." Rogue said, turning to face her, a hateful glare in her eyes. "Claire." she spat the name at her.

Cassandra looked horrified, and took several steps backwards until she bumped into Kitty.

"That, that's my mom's name." she whispered, her voice trembling. "How do you know that?"

"Get out." Rogue hissed, or more like the person in her head did.

"You, you're just like her aren't you?" Cassandra pointed at her. "That freak!... You're a freak!

"Get the hell out of my room Claire!" Rogue shouted, but not in her usual southern accent. "All of you, get out of my room!"

Cassandra didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted out of the room, screaming the whole way. Kitty hurried after her, to find Logan or Ororo. Only Jean stayed behind.

"Rogue, please calm down." she said softly, trying to pry her way into the girl's mind.

"Stay outtah mah head Jean!" Rogue shouted, at once noticing what the redhead was trying to do. "For yah own good, stay out."

And with all the force she could muster, she grabbed Jean and threw her out of the room. She locked the door and leaned against it, slipping to the floor. Her head and neck felt limp, but somehow she kept her eyes locked upon the still dust-covered mirror of the vanity. She stared at the mirror, wanting to cry out.

She saw figures there, hundreds, thousand even, moving around. Two were more prominent, moving closer and closer to the glass surface at a great speed. It was as if they were trying to break through. Letting out a piercing scream, Rogue lifted one arm in front of her face and held the other out-stretched in front of her, palm flexed to stop whatever was coming at her.

She didn't know how, she wasn't looking, but the mirror glass broke, splinters flying everywhere. Curling up against the door she could clearly hear the footsteps of the X-men rushing down the hall, and their voices shouting. But she didn't know what happened after that. All she knew, it that things faded...

**- - - : - - -**

Eh, this is sudden isn't it? Oh well... The next chapter will be more of an interlude with their morning hike, the boys school day and stuff like that.

Um, if you're wondering who the OC girls are, here are some short bio's;

-Cassandra Brewster Skaaren, daughter of Claire Brewster (cartoon), who was 'the bane of Lydia's existence', and is the image of her mother in both attitude and appearance. This also makes her, according to me, the granddaughter of Jane Butterfield (movie).

-Kathleen and Frances Love are daughters of another **Beetlejuice** **cartoon **character, Prudence 'no-known-last name' who was one of Lydia's two best _human _friends.

Reviews are much appreciated, especially with some form of constructive criticism.

-Natasha


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer;** **X-men **characters and places belong to **Marvel**, and **Beetlejuice** characters and places belong to **Tim Burton**.

**We, the Waiting**

**Interlude**

"I'm a mutant but not a bad one like Magneto a good one like Doop and X-Statix and when I grow up I'm gonna join the X-Men and get married to Wolverine so you better not act prejudiced around me. 'Kay?"

-Molly Hayes

It was the X-men's third day in the old Maitland house, located in the quiet little town of Peaceful Pines, Connecticut, and Adam Maitland had come to a conclusion.

**He did not like them**.

They were cleaning his house, re-arranging his furniture, _playing_ with his model. They were worse than the Deetz's, noisier than them and eerier. Yes, he, _a ghost_, found them to be abnormal. He had seen one of the girls run through a wall, and seen one boy turn blue and sprout a tail. He had heard them talking about being mutants, but this was... Not what he had expected, to say the least.

Was this what teenagers today acted like? Oh, how he missed the days when the only kid in the house was a moody young goth girl, who could see **and** respect them. Those were the days...

Barbra, on the other hand, was far from pleased over the intrusions in her home. She didn't dislike what they did as badly as how she'd felt about Delia Deetz. That woman had been insane.

Oh, but she did like those kids. She has always wanted kids of her own, they were trying but then, there was the accident. Obviously, ghosts can't have kids, it said so in the handbook. So when Lydia moved in, and they got to know each other, she had been so happy. They helped her study and she talked to them, being the only one who could actually see them.

And now that there may or may not be another girl in their house, that could see them, Barbra was happier than she had been in 17 years. Sure, Adam but a bit of a damper on her spirit, but there was really nothing that could ruin this for her. She would just have to wait and see.

--'--

"Ouch!" Evan Daniels cried out sharply, as a branch flew into his eye. Rogue turned and glared at him, before continuing forward, waving her arms about to shield herself from another murderous tree-branch.

It had been Logan's oh-so-genius idea that the best way to resurrect X-Men training was through a hike in a forest not far from their new home. Safe to say, the back troupe was now plotting a fair revenge.

The 'back troupe' was made up of Kitty, Kurt and Evan, the three of them spending their time plotting and complaining, and cracking jokes at the way Rogue and Jean would 'accidentally' elbow each other. In front of the two girls was the Fearless Leader Scott, who was completely oblivious about the two girls behind him, trying to push each other off the road.

In front of him again was Wolverine, who would only occasionally turn around to send the back troupe death glares, and shout at them to get their asses in gear.

"I swear to God, if he makes us do something like this again, I'm quitting the X-Men," Kitty muttered as the teens began closing in on the end of the forest.

"I second that one," Evan said, hands in front of his face. That one branch in the eye had really scarred him. Safe to say the trees were lucky he wasn't carrying a machete.

A sly grin spread across Kurt's lips.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

He hunched forward, whispering the wicked details of his pay-back plot. In short, it involved shaving cream, maple syrup and about a hundred alarm clocks going of at the same time. (Kitty made note that his plan was basically just ripping off the Parent Trap.) The others soon sported the same grins.

--'--

Ororo Munroe's morning had started off as one of the most wonderful ones in weeks. A nice cup of tea in the front yard with a good book, and no screaming teenagers. Then Xavier had left to go meet Hank McCoy at the Massachusetts Academy. Alright, no big deal, Logan and her could handle the kids themselves for a few days.

And now, with them out of the house, all was calm. She rather liked this town, the fact that it was so rural. Years in a city like Bayville made her long after a simpler kind of life. But something about this house still unnerved her.

Not the fact that a young girl had disappeared, never to be seen again, 17 years ago and no one seemed to think much of it. Or the fact that the people who had once owned the house had drowned in a river that could be seen from the front yard. It was all because of a book.

She had found it while cleaning the attic, dusting off one of the bookshelves. At first she thought it was a joke. The title it self was so ludicrous it could hardly be anything but. So she had taken it out of it's place, deciding to take a look, just to satisfy her curiosity.

None of it's content made sense, the way it would jump from one topic to something, seemingly, completely irrelevant from one page to another. And the publisher! She didn't know what to think, but knew that it was for the better that she hid the book from the children. Goddess know what they would make of it.

But part of her wondered if it was true. If what she had found wasn't really a Handbook for the Recently Deceased...

--'--

Scott Summers hadn't thought too much about what Mr.Illes school for boys would be like. He knew their stay there was only temporary, and he was certain it would be like any other school. Apparently he had to be missing something big, because he didn't see the problem Evan and Kurt were making it out to be.

Though he had to admit, the 'new' uniform wasn't his favorite part of the gig. He could only imagine the kind of hell Jean was giving her own teacher over them.

"Well, we lost Scooter again," Evan muttered, and Kurt turned his head toward where he was pointing. Behind them, still standing at the curb where they had been dropped off was Scott, a rather dazed look on his face.

"Jean," they said in unison, sighing - in a over dramatic, cartoon-ish way - as they did.

"Yeah well, if I had a girl like Jean I'd probably be actin' the same way," Evan said as the two continued up towards the school. Kurt stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the boy.

"What...?"

"As Kitty vould say," the German boy put a hand on his hip and an in exaggerated valley-girl accent said, "that is, like, totally gross."

"Aw, come on. You gotta admit, she's **hot**."

"...Ja," Evan smirked, "but she's still Jean! ...Besides, I'm happy with Amanda."

"What are we talking about?" Scott asked catching up with them

"The fact that you two both have hot girlfriends, and that the last girl that showed any interest in me was Kiden Nixon back in 6th grade!" (3.1)

Scott's face was blank, as was Kurt's. Evan muttered something before stomping off and in through the doors of the school. The boys outside took their time, staring at the building. It was like the school in Little House on the Prairie, except this one looked ready to fall apart.

At 9 A.M sharp they clutched their ears. The school bell certainly worked.

--'--

Jean Grey was the kind of girl who usually found school to be rather amusing. But she had her limits, and this girl Cassandra, and her posse, had made her reach that limit and further. It was lunch period, in which all the 87 students at the school made their way outside to a group of benches and tables behind the school building. Cassandra had insisted they sit with her and her friends.

It was positively horrifying. Cassandra was talking about _something_ (Jean had blocked her voice out the second she opened her mouth), Rogue was sitting at the end of the table glaring daggers at the younger girls and Kitty looked like she wanted to rip the girl's tongue out.

"And so, like, I was like, no, that's **so** gross."

"You are **so **totally awesome, Cassandra," one of the girls commented. Cassandra grinned.

"I totally know! Like, aren't I just the most?"

"And Ah am **so** out of here," Rogue muttered mockingly, got up from her seat and hurried back inside the school building. Jean never thought she'd see the girl willingly go back inside a school.

Kitty turned to face the redhead, a terrified look on her face. "Tell me I don't sound like that."

Jean gave her a reassuring smile. "Please. You're a regular Professor Higgins in comparison." (3.2)

The brunette sighed in relief.

"So, what are you th-," Cassandra paused, and looked around bewildered. "Where'd the European girl go?"

"Eh, Rogue had to um, she had to..." Jean fumbled, trying to make something up.

"She just had to uh, powder her face!" Kitty interjected.

"Oh. Cool," the blond paused. "Well, what are you noob's doing today?"

"Um, nothing special really," Jean glanced at her friend, hoping that Kitty would come up with another excuse. There was none. "Just... nothing."

"Then you can like totally invite me over!" she said enthusiastically. "I'm like, dying to meet those guys you mentioned!"

--'--

"Ah hate you gahs," Rogue muttered as the last bell rang and the girls of Ms. Shannon's school made their way out. The sun was shinning outside, birds were chirping, and Rogue was brewing a storm of her own. "Ah can't believe ya invited **her** over!"

"**We** didn't," Kitty whispered back. She glanced around nervously to make sure the person in question wasn't close enough to hear. "She invited herself!"

"Kitty! Rogue! Over here!" Cassandra made her way towards them, leaving her crew behind. (Kitty noted that the five or so girls now looked completely helpless.)

- "Ah think Ah'm gunna kill mahself," Rogue said through clenched teeth and a fake smile.

Jean sighed. "I second that."

--'--

"We're back!" Kitty shouted as the girls arrived at the Maitland House. Rogue was the first one through the door, and the second she was inside she shrugged off her jacket and sprinted up the stairs. Seconds later they heard her door slam close.

"Was that Rogue?" Ororo's familiar voice asked as came into the hall to greet the girls. She smiled warmly, and when her eyes fell on Cassandra they went wide. The girl sported a ridiculously deep tan, a fake one at that, which she could tell by the way it rubbed off on the girl's white blouse. Her hair was a striking blond, which she guessed was as unnatural as her skin.

However, she quickly recovered from her moment of speechlessness and politely said, "Hello, my name is Ororo Munroe. You must be from Ms. Shannon's school. "

- "Hello Ms. Munroe. My name's Cassandra Skaaren, I'm Jane Brewster's granddaughter," she curtsied (much to Jean and Kitty's amusement). "And yes, I do attend Ms. Shannon's."

- "Jane's granddaughter? How nice."

"Yes, and I have to say, I totally love what you've done with the place!"

"Why," it took some time before Ororo could find the right words, she was trying her best not to laugh at Kitty who was making faces behind Cassandra's back. She covered it with a cough then continued. " Why thank you Cassandra. That's very nice of you."

Cassandra smiled and promptly made her way past Storm and into the living room. Once certain that she was out of ears reach, the younger X-girls burst into giggles and Storm gave a light laugh.

"Where did you find this one?"

Her eyes wandered up the stairs. Rogue had gone and locked herself in her room. Understandable, she would have wanted to get away from this if she was in the girl's position, but she wished she would try to make some... well, not necessarily friends, that might be a bit much to ask, but at least acquaintances.

- "Rogue! The others have a friend here. Couldn't you come downstairs?"

"Sorry miss Munrow," came the muffled, southern voice. "Ah've got a lot of homework ta do." Classic excuse.

Jean and Kitty decided it might be best to keep an eye on Cassandra and went to the living room, while Ororo returned to the kitchen, to put on another dishwasher. Six teenagers, plus Logan, knew how to go through plates and glasses.

She turned around, hearing Logan growl as he ventured inside the kitchen. Silently she laughed and he pulled out one of the chairs, sat down and stuffed a cigar between his teeth.

- "I see you've met their new friend."

He took a long, slow drag at the cigar, while staring out the window. Slowly he turned his attention to the so called Weather Goddess, glaring at her.

- "That kid's insane, 'Ro."

- "Oh, I strongly doubt that, Logan. She's just ... eccentric." She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down opposite from him.

"Ya know what she said to me?" Ororo shook her head. "That my hair was, and I quote, like, totally awesome," he shuddered and the woman burst into laughter, so hard that tears formed in her eyes. "And she's flirtin' with the Porcupine."

A choking sound came from ivory haired woman, and Logan's gruff laugh filled the room.

--'--

"That guy Evan, is **so** cute."

Jean, who was trailing behind Kitty and Cassandra, looked slightly disgusted, and judging by the thoughts flying around Kitty's head she was pretty sure the younger mutant agreed. Furthermore, Evan had been completely taken aback at how openly Cassandra flirted with him, much to Scott and Kurt's amusement, who had muttered something like 'careful what you wish for'.

- "Where'd he go, anyway?" Cassandra asked, looking around. Kitty cast an unsure glance in Jeans direction.

- "I, uh, I think he went upstairs."

Cassandra smiled and swiftly made her way up the stairs. Jean and Kitty exchanged looks, before hurrying up after her.

- "So, um, Cassandra," Jean began slowly, hoping to slow the girl down in her pursuit. "How old did you say you were?"

- "13," she answered, without stopping to look at the redhead.

- "Well, Evan's 16 and,"

"That is **so** sweet!" the blond exclaimed, turning to give Jean a sickly sweet smile. "You're worried about me getting hurt. You are **such** a great friend!"

Jean's eyes went wide as the younger girl hugged her, all while she sarcasticly thought to herself, _'Right. I'm protecting __**you**'. _At the moment she wanted nothing more than for the blond to let her go, but when she saw Kurt and Evan further down the hall, heading for Rogue's room, she hugged her back. And to Cassandras shock kept her there until the boys were out of view.

Cassandra looked oddly at her. _'Oh- my- God. She is so gay.'_

Jean glared at her, having her heard thoughts.

"Girl, you gotta hide us! That girl is insane!"

Cassandra's face broke into a smile, that made Kitty cringe. The younger girl grabbed the X-girls by their hands and dragged them towards Rogue's room.

--'--

As soon Cassandra had opened the door with the **Night of the Living Dead **poster on it, Jean and Kitty where hit by the familiar smell of brimstone. And though the girl made a remark about the smell, that's not what shocked the two mutants.

"Rogue!" Jean cried, watching with fearful eyes as her friend staggered towards her bed. She rushed to her side, trying to steady her, while Kitty tried to deal with Cassandra's fascination with being in Lydia Deetz's old room, and getting her out before anything happened, that might expose them as mutants.

"Get offa' me!" Rogue shouted, as Jean tried to put her arms around her to help her stand. Rogue pushed her away, so forcefully that she almost hit the wall. Jean gasped at the impact of the girl's blow in her lower stomach, and felt a chill run through her body when she noticed that Rogue wasn't wearing her gloves. They had to get Cassandra out of here before something happened.

"You," Rogue said, turning to face to the blond, a hateful glare in her eyes. Kitty looked at her friend, a confused look on her face. That wasn't Rogue's voice.

"Claire," she spat the name at Cassandra.

Cassandra looked horrified, and took several steps backwards until she bumped into Kitty.

"That, that's my mom's name," she whispered, her voice, and entire body, trembling. "How do you know that?"

"Get out."

"You, you're just like her aren't you?" Cassandra pointed at her. Jean and Kitty's eyes locked, and the brunette nodded, understanding what she had to do. "That freak!... You're a freak!

"Get the hell out of my room Claire!" Rogue shouted, and it was all too obvious that it was not actually Rogue speaking, shouting at them. "All of you, get out of my room!"

Cassandra didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted out of the room, screaming the whole way. Kitty hurried after her, to find Logan and Ororo, leaving Jean behind to telepathically handle Rogue. Halfway down the hall, Cassandra only a few feet ahead of her, she phased through the floor.

She landed in the kitchen, where Logan, Ororo and Scott were sitting. They all stared.

"It's Rogue," she said frantically. "Something is wrong!"

Logan was on his feet and heading for the stairs in a flash, and as he made his way up the stairs Cassandra Skaaren ran past him, and out the door.

"I'll handle her," Ororo told the two teens. "Go help Logan."

They didn't need to be told twice.

--'--

"Rogue, please calm down." Jean said softly, trying to calm her friend, while trying to pry her way into the girl's mind. It was all a blur of colors, patterns, bones. Rogue was in there somewhere, in some strange world, fighting for control of her mind.

"Stay outtah mah head Jean!" she shouted, clutching the side of her head in one hand. The telepath could see and feel her pain, and the feelings that whoever she had absorbed was channeling. "For yah own good, stay out."

In a flash of movement, with a force Jean didn't know she possessed, Rogue grabbed her, and throw her out of the room and into the wall. She could hear a sickening crack as she hit the wall, and slid to the floor watching as the door slammed close in her face.

"Jean!"

She turned her head to see Logan, followed by Scott and Kitty, rushing down the hall. "She's absorbed someone, and whoever it is, it's trying to control her."

Logan's eyes fell on the door. "Rogue! Rogue open the door!" he shouted, pounding at the woodwork.

"It's Rogue anymore," Jean whispered, just as Kurt and Evan teleported into the hall.

"We heard screaming."

Before anyone could answer, Logan grabbed the door, and with a loud roar he tore it off it's hinges.

They all stared in shock at Rogue's limp body lying on the bedroom floor, surrounded by shards of glass, the broken mirror in front of them and they gasped at the ghastly voice that cried out,

"It's show time!"

------------

**3.1** Kiden Nixon is from the NYX series. Sadly, none of the characters there ('cept X-23) get any attention these days.

**3.2** Professor Higgins, from **My Fair Lady**. Classic.

Well, I have mixed feelings about this chapter... Particularly about the ending, about adding BJ's catchphrase to it. Any opinions?

Okay, I admit, the opening quote is **completely** irrelevant. But I've been reading so much **Runaways** that I had to include **something, **and Molly is just too cool to be denied. And if you haven't read the series yet (it's by Marvel) go read it now! (Well, after you've reviewed anyway... Pretty please?) (for the record, the quote is supposed to be without comma's...)

Hope this chapter was to your liking!

-Natasha


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